Boots

'I wouldn't rule out anything.'

Scott Walker told ABC that he would not rule out putting "boots on the ground" to fight ISIS:

"I think aggressively, we need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorist in and around the world. Because it's not a matter of when they attempt an attack on American soil -- not if, I should say, it's when -- and we need leadership that says clearly, not only amongst the United States but amongst our allies, that we're willing to take appropriate action. And I think it should be surgical," said Walker.

The ABC host asked, "You don't think 2,000 air strikes is taking it to ISIS in Syria and Iraq?"

"I think we need to have an aggressive strategy anywhere around the world. I think it's a mistake--"

"What does that mean. I don't know what aggressive strategy means. If we're bombing--I mean, we've done 2,000 air strikes. What is an aggressive strategy?"

"I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to go beyond just aggressive air strikes," said Walker. "We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that's what it takes. Because I think you know--"

"Boots on the ground in Syria? U.S. boots on the the ground in Syria?"

"No, I don't think that is an immediate plan, but I think anywhere in the world--"

"But you wouldn't rule it out?"

"I wouldn't rule anything out. I think when you have the lives of Americans at stake and our freedom loving allies anywhere in the world, we have to be prepared to do things that don't allow those measures, those attacks, those abuses to come to our shores," said Walker.

President Obama said that American troops in are "in a war environment" fighting the Islamic State and that the men and women in the military are in "harm's way." He made the comments this evening on 60 Minutes:

"You know, you've said no American boots on the ground, no combat troops on the ground," said 60 Minutes host Steve Kroft. "We've got 1,600 troops there.

ISIS Strategy Unrealistic.

Robert Gates, President Obama's first defense secretary, said this morning on CBS that President Obama's strategy for defeating the Islamic State is unrealistic:

"The reality is, they're not going to be able to be successful against ISIS strictly from the air or strictly depending on the Iraqi forces or the Peshmerga or the Sunni tribes acting on their own," said Gates.

We're at war. We're putting boots on the ground. We're not waiting around for the host nation's government to get its affairs in order, or for a regional coalition to commit first. The president has apparently overcome his reluctance to use the military, his worries about a commitment to intervene without an exit strategy, and his usual reluctance to acknowledge (even implicitly) that his administration was wrong when it assured us that there was nothing much for us to worry about.

On Wednesday, the eve of the thirteenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Obama will speak to the American people about his strategy for dealing with the rise of the Islamic State, the would-be caliphate bestriding Iraq and Syria, the most palpable and present threat to the region since Saddam Hussein invaded Iran and, later, Kuwait.

"The Bidens contributed $7,190 to charity in 2012," the White House revealed today. A look at the Bidens joint filing reveals that $2,000 of that donation was in the form of "donated property" given to Goodwill in Wilmington, Delaware.